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What You'll Find Here

I'm primarily a storyteller and a builder, which expresses itself in several ways:

Sims 4 Builds: I've been creating a ton of builds for a new save file, plus taking photos of old ones. If I can figure out how to safely share (and give credit for) builds using CC on the Gallery, then those will be shared. Until then, it's pictures-only.

Sims 4 Sims: CAS is not my favorite places to be, but I do enjoy styling my Sims. Expect me to post a lot of lookbooks and makeovers. Again, if I can figure out how to safely and simply share CC-enhanced Sims with credit, I'll be doing that.

Worldbuilding: I love worldbuilding, and I've thought a lot about the larger world of TS4 and SimNation might look like. Expect a lot of posts about the regions, politics, and religions of SimNation.

Stories: The save file I'm currently working on will be the setting for a story-focused neighborhood. But I can't start on that until I get the save file ready.

I've also created some mods with Mod Constructor. I'd need to get a lot more confident in their functionality and my ability to fix problems before I tried to share them. But you never know! I learned how to use Canva last week to make that title card. Maybe next month, I'll figure out how to hand-code and hand-update the mods I've made.

Chapels are found in abbeys (as well as monasteries and nunneries), which are closed communities for groups of siblings. Most chapels and abbeys are hundreds of years old - the monastic way of life has been on the decline for centuries, so very few new abbeys (and thus chapels) are being formed. An abbey’s chapel may be attached to another building or free-standing. Chapels and their worship services may or may not be open to the public. In addition to being found in abbeys, chapels may also be found in certain private homes - namely country estates and castles of nobility and royalty.

Missions are spaces where lay and clergy alike come to worship. They are built in local communities, by local communities, and thus come in all shapes and sizes.

Owing to the Peteran Church’s global reach and extensive history, chapels and missions come in a wide range of architectural styles. In fact, though missions inspired an architectural style that’s common in Gran Belomisia and the Simhara Desert, that style is hardly universal among missions. St. Simbert’s Church in Henford-on-Bagley is a great example of a Peteran chapel (now mission) in the Old Simglish style.

But regardless of the specific architectural details, Peteran missions and chapels are typically not overly decorated. Peterans prefer to spend their money on helping others rather than on adorning their places of worship in luxury. That being said, Peterans do believe in making their worship spaces pleasant to look at - after all, if the Watcher didn’t like beauty, They surely wouldn’t have added so much of it to the universe. Their spaces just tend not to be ostentatious and to make as much use as possible of simple, natural materials from the local area.

In terms of layout, chapels and missions will typically have a main worship space on the ground floor. Depending on local conditions, there might be an upstairs “study loft” that allows Sims to read or research religious works while still listening to the service. There may also be ancillary spaces like a kitchen, greenhouse or community garden, “mission hall” for communal gatherings, offices for the clergy and Elder Council, daycare rooms, underground crypts, and of course, bathrooms. In game terms, these buildings will usually be classed as cemeteries but can easily be turned into wedding venues should the need arise.

Missions are funded by the tithes of the members; chapels are funded by the abbeys they are part of. (This is another reason why chapels - and abbeys - are struggling: if they don’t serve lay folk directly, they can’t beg them for tithes, so they’re forced to raise funds via university tuition, selling crafts or produce from their lands, or donation drives.) Cleaning and maintenance work may be handled by the clergy, lay volunteers, or paid professionals. For the most part, chapels and missions will try to handle day-to-day cleaning and simple maintenance through either the work of the clergy or lay volunteers, but deep cleaning and complicated maintenance will be handled by trained and fairly paid professionals. It is viewed as an abuse of power for clergy to suggest that layfolk donate labor to their mission or chapel as part of a lesson, though layfolk who have professional skills the mission or chapel could use are welcome to volunteer their time and expertise in lieu of or in addition to tithes.

Everyday and Formal looks.

She's tried to distance herself from the wild. Yes, she's Cheerful and Family-Oriented - but also quite Materialistic. She's a Quick Learner, always has been, and her most potent desire is to be a Nerd Brain.

Frolicking half-dressed in the waves has never been one of her aspirations.

Athletic and PJs.

At least her spouse, Ayo, always understood that. They accepted Flora's quirks, but they never questioned her desire to distance herself from those quirks. Without Ayo's support and love, Flora never would have had the courage to become the Computer Engineer she always wanted to be.

Party and Swim.

But Flora should have known it wouldn't be that easy. While Flora herself seems to have evaded nature's call ... her daughter Iris didn't. And now she's run off to Everdew to live with a Fairy (!!) and possibly become one herself (!!).

Flora can live with that. Truly. She just wants her daughter to be happy.

What she's not sure she can live with is the distance that's sprung up between them.

Hot Weather and Cold Weather.

What's worse is that Flora is pretty sure that distance is all her fault. Because while Flora would move heaven and earth for her little girl - the one thing she could never bring herself to do was tell the truth.

And if she comes out with it now ...

Mermaid looks.

Cathedrals usually serve as gathering places for weekly services, weddings, and funerals. The sanctuary where services are held will be the biggest, grandest space, but there might be ancillary spaces like a kitchen or function room. Many cathedrals will have an attached cemetery as well as crypt space, since burial on holy ground is important to Jacobans. In game terms, they’re often classed as cemeteries but can be switched to wedding venues if need be.

While in a cathedral, Jacobans are expected to be on their very best behavior. In years past, Jacobans were expected to attend services in their best clothes, but as time and fashion standards changed, a “Sunday best” style evolved: high-quality, well-fitted, expensive clothes that are nonetheless sober and modest enough for worship. Jacobans will happily count celebrities among their parishioners, but they’d prefer Judith Ward not show up to services in the same dress she’d wear to the Starlight Accolades.

Jacoban clergy are responsible for building and maintaining cathedrals, though for the most part, they’re not doing the work themselves. They will typically hire professionals to handle high-intensity building maintenance (that’s what the tithe money pays for). Cathedral attendants will handle day-to-day duties like cleaning and decorating, though many Jacoban parishes hire professional cleaners for deep cleaning. Shepherds are also permitted to assign work around the cathedral as a penance, though due to past scandals, there are strict rules around this:

The penance cannot prevent the sinner from providing for their family.

The scope of work must be reasonable for one Sim to perform.

Materials must be provided by the church, not the sinner.

The penance must be something the sinner is trained to do and can do without danger to life or limb (so no assigning an accountant Sim who barely knows one end of a hammer from the other to fix a roof leak).

Parishioners who have professional skills that are of value to the parish can perform service in lieu of tithes, though most parishes discourage this: they’d rather their parishioners tithe first and then volunteer. However, plenty of parishes will allow volunteering instead of tithing if the volunteer is in financial distress.

Most orders have their own unique hierarchies and specific titles for clergy. But for convenience, most Treaders use the words priest and priestess as generic terms for clergy members. Priests- and priestesses-in-training are commonly referred to as acolytes. Priests and priestesses who have gained some measure of rank and authority in their orders are often called high priests and high priestesses, but once you start talking about priests with authority, you’re much less likely to be using generic terms and much more likely to be using the order’s specific terminology.

While the details of course vary by order, most priests have the same general job description: tend to their temples, appease and make offerings to their specific Watcher-being, perform rituals for and with worshippers, offer advice and succor to worshippers. Only the specific rituals and appeasements vary, as do some of the actions needed to care for the temples.

Every order has its own criteria for membership, but there is one way that all orders are alike: every priesthood requires all of its members to be “forked ones,” i.e., occult Sims. In addition to the occult life states, Treaders recognize Sims who have Burning Souls and those who are skilled in Mediumism as forked ones. What kind of forked one a person must be in order to join the order varies by (you guessed it) order. Some orders are open only to specific life states, like Vampires or Plantsims or Spellcasters. Some are open to all forked ones. 

Most Treaders do not see this as an unnecessarily restrictive requirement. They are, after all, the Treaders of the Forking Paths, so it’s only logical that their priests should be treading a forking path of their own. Moreover, should a normie Sim wish to join a particular order, most priests would be delighted to help them become the required kind of occult. For what could be holier than to desire to walk down a forking path in order to serve the Watcher-beings?

One last thing that should be mentioned is that orders also vary widely in how much commitment they require from their priests. In some orders, being a priest is akin to a part-time job or a regular volunteer gig, only requiring a few hours per week of service. Those jobs may or may not be paid. Other orders treat being a priest like a regular full-time job: priests are “on the clock” and performing their duties for a given amount of time per week, but otherwise, their time is their own. And for some other orders, being a priest is a lifelong commitment. Priests live at the temple and dedicate their whole lives to the Watcher-being - though of course, they do get free time like everyone else.

Rules surrounding clerical celibacy (which, for some reasons, Watcherian faiths are so focused on) or lack thereof follow a similar logic. In general, the less time and commitment an order requires from its priests, the less they have to say about their priests’ sex lives, and some orders keep mum on this topic regardless of how much time they ask for from their priests. However, there are some orders that require celibacy. There are others, often dedicated to fertility-focused Watcher-beings, who require regular partnered sex. And there are others who may have rules in between - requiring marriage or forbidding it, or encouraging sex at certain times of the year and not others. It all depends on the order, its principles, and the Watcher-being it serves.

Everyday and Formal looks.

Not that Sophia is a Crumplebottom by birth. She married into the family. And she's never once regretted it. After all, it could be worse - she could actually be related to that purse-wielding harridan instead of just sharing a last name with her.

(Agatha is lovely, though. Sophia doesn't understand how she puts up with her cousin.)

Athletic and PJs.

When she's not trying to avoid being clobbered by a purse (like everyone else in Henford-on-Bagley), Sophia is High-Maintenance, Materialistic, and an Art Lover. Does this mean she's kind of a lot sometimes? Yes! But anyone who is worth her time can handle it.

How does that wonderful saying go - "If you can't handle me at my worse, you don't deserve me at my best"? Sophia 100% agrees, no notes.

Party and Swim.

These days, Sophia has the Home Turf bonus trait, and she wants nothing more than to keep a Perfectly Pristine home. This may be a little ambitious with a new baby in the house. But Sophia is sure she can handle it. After all - she's the wife of Simgland's Lady Protector. If she can't handle chasing a few dust bunnies out the door, who does she think she is?

Hot Weather and Cold Weather.

But of course, Sophia has more than housework to concern her. She's a proper Trendsetter, after all, determined to set the tone for style in Simgland and beyond.

Wife, mother, trendsetter, lady - there's a lot going on for Sophia. But she knows she has what it takes to handle it all with aplomb.

I showed you all the WIP - now it's time for the finished product!

I had fun setting this lot up, and it came together much more quickly than I thought it would.

But let's get started with the hedge maze. It's a cute little maze, if I say so myself, with more than a few surprises.

There are some archery targets as well as horseshoes to play. I mean, it's a stables. You can't NOT have horseshoes!

Speaking of horses and their shoes, there are plenty of places for the equines to train and have fun.

There are also gardens and landscaping throughout. I think I'm getting better at this whole "landscaping" thing.

Inside, the stables ... has places for horses to hang out.

Upstairs, we have a classy tea room that is mostly an excuse for me to get my nonexistent $5 worth out of the Teatime Solarium kit.

(I got it free with Royalty & Legacy. I wanted the pack for itself, and I wasn't going to say no to two free kits.)

Maybe I should have added a door/small room between the stairs and the tearoom. I keep thinking about the smell ...

But that doesn't exist in the Sims, so you know what? Enjoy some layout shots!

When the Watcherian faiths swallowed up the lands that would become SimNation, the druids were forced into smaller and smaller territories. Eventually, they retreated so far into hiding that they disappeared entirely. But now the Watcherian faiths have lost their iron grip on the hearts and minds of Sims, and the druids are back.

Druids are a relatively loose and informal group as far as clergy go. Most of them are doing the best they can to reconstruct what ancient rituals they can and create new, meaningful rituals for modern life. However, their view of their essential job function hasn’t changed: they are still the mediators between the Divine and the ordinary, the sacred and the profane. They guard Nature and protect it. And they help their fellow Cultists learn how to keep the sacred Balance.

In theory, all druids serve all the Great Divines. In practice, most druids focus their attention on one or two of six main Divines: Mother Nature, Spruce Almighty, Father Winter, the Flower Bunny, the Grim Reaper, or Sylvia. These druids learn the rituals and blessings specific to their chosen Divine. For instance, druids dedicated to Mother Nature learn the rituals surrounding pregnancy, birth, Planting, Harvest, and divorce. Druids dedicated to Sylvia lead the rituals surrounding birth, Planting, Harvest, Blossoming, and marriage - and so on and so forth.

Being a druid is a large commitment to one’s faith and community - but it’s not necessarily a full-time job. Plenty of druids aren’t even paid. The Cult of the Cowplant does not collect tithes or mandatory donations, so there often isn’t a pot of money from which to pay druids. But druids do find their way toward turning their calling into enough funds to live on. Some run blogs or write books and articles about Cultish beliefs and worship practices. Others use their expertise in gardening, apothecary, or herbalism to sell goods and earn money that way. Some live entirely off-the-grid and try to be as self-sufficient as possible. And others directly operate shrines (Cultish places of worship). These shrines are usually set up as not-for-profits, just as Jacoban parishes, Peteran missions, Non-Believer Learning Centers, and Treader temples are. Druids are considered employees of the shrine and are paid a set salary.

The only thing druids don’t do is charge fees directly for their services. Most find this an act of greed bordering on rapacity. Many will, however, accept donations in kind, and some shrines do ask for donations in exchange for certain rituals.

There is no set path or training sequence to become a druid. Cultists who are interested in this field will often do extensive research and study on their own before reaching out to another druid for additional training. If the druid accepts, they’ll take the student as a sort of apprentice. The student is ready when they and the druid agree they are. Some shrines will hire and train new druids as trainee druids, but not all shrines do this, and even those who do might not do it all the time. Druids, once trained, often serve for life, though they will typically slow down and do less as they get up in years.

One last note: clerical celibacy. While every druid is in charge of their own sex life, the Cult as a whole is adamantly opposed to the idea of mandatory clerical celibacy. Sex is intimately linked to fertility, and an important part of the job of druids is to ensure Nature’s fertility - they can’t do that if they are barred from partaking in fertility themselves. Some Cultists will even argue that no druid should be celibate. These Cultists have not prevailed, and right now, the majority opinion in the Cult is that druids should at least be open to sexual activity with the right partner(s) - and beyond that, the details of their sex lives are nobody’s business but theirs.

Everyday and Formal looks. She gets two formals - a regular one and a military dress uniform one.

But who - or rather, what - Margaret is is far more important who/what she is not.

And what she is is the Lady Protector of Simgland.

Athletic and PJs.

The role of Lady Protector is, of course, no mere hereditary head of state like the Monarch of Windenburg or the Count of Uberwald. It's far more than that: a sacred trust which must be earned. Margaret spent her youth working her way through the ranks of SimNation's military before taking a seat in the House of Lords.

Perhaps because of her long career and reputation for service, it surprises no one who meets her to learn that she is Stoic, Competitive, and quite Proper. Moreover, she's always been a Quick Learner - and these days, she's quite Career-Focused.

Party and Swim.

But even someone as driven and dutiful as Margaret can't be all-work, no-play all the time.

That's why she's so grateful for Sophia - the love of her life, the wife of her heart, and now, the (other) mother of her child.

Hot Weather and Cold Weather.

When Margaret looks at Sophia and their recently adopted baby girl, Catherine, she knows what happiness truly is. And it has nothing to do with beating overly amorous lovers with her purse.